Colleen's Choice
by NDV
Summary: McMurphy's version of "Holly's Choice"... McMurphy/KC friendship is the main focus of the story. Reviews'd be nice...


Colleen's Choice?  
  
  
What if McMurphy hadn't come back from the bathroom singing the Hallelujah chorus?  
  
Timeframe/Note: It's been a while since I've seen the episode entitled "Holly's Choice", so I have taken some liberties with timelines. During "Holly's Choice", when Colleen was strictly against Holly getting the abortion, Holly told her something along the lines of, "This could have been you, if you hadn't come out of bathroom singing the Hallelujah chorus", so I'm running with it.  
Also, in "You, Babe" Colleen McMurphy id-ed herself as a Lieutenant, so I'm going with that, too. Feel free to correct my mistakes. I will be quite grateful!! Holly's Choice, in my world, DID happen after "Magic" but also after "Pheonix" (which it's about 6 episodes before), when KC and McMurphy had the argument over frienship and each wishing for sister like the other.   
  
Also, since I can't remember who was at the sleepover, we're going to say KC (though I KNOW she wasn't), Holly, McMurphy, and Frankie were. The other people are unimportant and Lila was not there for obvious job-related reasons. And I don't own anyone in this story, however much or little they're mentioned.  
  
Thanks for reading this unedited, unbeta-ed, spur-of-the-moment-idea fan fiction :) Reviews/comments would be greatly appreciated!   
  
Here we go!  
Colleen's Choice  
  
She exited the head looking quite the zombie, though she covered with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. KC glanced up and noticed the curious expression, but said nothing, and turned back to the others, none of which were completely comfortable with her presence. Used to her, they were; comfortable, they weren't. After all, what did a hooker turned businesswoman belong with a bunch of nurses, USO members, and Red Cross workers... and Frankie?  
  
"Truth or dare, Murph?" Holly asked, eyes glittering with mischief. "Don't give me that look! Truth or dare... or are you chicken?"  
  
Rolling her eyes, Colleen sighed, "Truth."  
  
Instead of groaning as they'd done before, Holly, Frankie, and an unidentified nurse exchanged glances. Holly spoke, "Truth, okay... Tell us about Vinnie, McMurphy. What happened between you two a couple weeks ago?"  
  
Sighing, she picked at the hem of her top, "A mistake, that's what. A mistake he took literally and then threw in my face, and threatened to beat up Dr. Bernard to save my honor," her words were mocking and tired.   
  
"That's not exactly the details we meant," the nurse piped in, an eyebrow raised. KC watched in silence, wafting between prodding her friend for details or reaching out and asking what was wrong. Manner dictated one thing, friendship another. She had recognized the look on McMurphy's face: it was one she'd worn a few years before, and at the time Colleen McMurphy had been one of the few that helped her through it.   
  
When the words were meant with silence, Holly jumped in, "Come on, McMurphy, spill! We answered all of your questions and did your dares..."  
  
She sighed, "Can I take a dare?" A chorus of 'no' was heard. After a moment, she repeated, "A mistake. A very big mistake." Without another word, McMurphy stood and hurried from the 'tent'.   
  
"Oh no," Holly groaned, "I'm sorry, McMurphy!" she yelled, starting to stand.   
  
Frankie felt like an idiot. She'd seen the worried look on KC's face at the Lieutenant's reentrance and guessed that something was wrong.  
  
KC headed her off, and shot them all a collective warning glance. "I'll go talk to her." She left no room for argument with her words, "You wait." With that, she too ran from the tent, the cloth of her skirt swishing in the stagnant air. Moments later, she caught up to McMurphy, who had paused at the railing near the garden. Her elbows were propped on the top rail, her head in her hands as she fought tears.  
  
"Hey," KC greeted, propping her back against the fence and looking at McMurphy with a turned head. "So..."  
  
Sighing yet again, McMurphy replied, "Yeah. So." She turned to face her friend, looked for a moment, then mimicked her stance, back against the fence, eyes roaming over all of China Beach that she could see.  
  
Without a warning, the silence was broken by hummed strains of Sonny and Cher, and "I Got You, Babe" fell on the womens' ears. Colleen stared at the ground. "I remember..." she hesitated, "I just never thought I'd be asking you to return the favor for me."  
  
KC nodded, a little startled. Quite frankly, she'd expected to have to interrogate the nurse, but then again, hormones did strange things. "Yes, I remember." With a pause just like McMurphy's, she continued, "And I'll be available to return the favor minus the medical portion, but they'll expect you to go back to the states, won't they?"  
  
She almost snorted in response. "To what? My father's dead, my brother's...ugh... and my mother's in her own little world. Do you have any idea what they'd say to me if I ran back home pregnant and unmarried? He'd threaten to kill the father and my mother would start attempts to marry me off." The stars were bright, the sky, for once, wasn't clouded. China Beach was quiet, no grenades or gunfire shattered the stillness. For once, it was peaceful, and McMurphy was certain she wouldn't be going back to that little town. At least, not yet. "Vietnam... is home for me, for now."  
  
"You gonna keep the kid?" KC asked, pulling out a cigarette. "I'd offer, but, you know."  
  
"I couldn't... live with myself, if I got rid of it. You know, Catholic guilt and all that. I have a while to decide, yet, don't I? And I don't even know, you know, for absolute certain," she rambled.  
  
"You haven't been examined?" KC asked, then continued without having to hear the answer, "No, you're right, you can't go to Richard or Bernard, obviously. And God forbid you ask Lila the ex-Triage nurse for a favor." Her mind wandered backward in time a few years, remembering the sight of her own daughter's face moments after she was born. Fleetingly, she let herself wonder how she was, growing up in Saigon... without her mother. "I have a friend who could do it, tell you if you're pregnant or not, I mean." After another moment of observation without any response from the other woman, she added, "You'll be fine. Now, down to business. You gonna tell the father?"  
  
She let out a strangled noise that could've been a laugh or a sob, "I would if I could."  
  
"You don't know...yet. Need a timeframe first, huh?" KC let the sentence drift off. She nodded, "Well, okay. Let's go. We'll get you examined and then head back to the girls before they send out a search party."  
  
McMurphy nodded and sighed again. "It's not too late... early, I mean?"  
  
"In the morning? Nah. He owes me one. Don't worry, we'll take care of this."  
  
"We will?" An eyebrow shot up, nearly disappearing under brunette bangs. At KC's nodded encouragement, her eyes teared up, "I wouldn't even lie for you...and you're..."  
  
"Yeah well, I've been there, and you're..." she grudgingly continued, "you're my friend. And I figure I owe you one too, not to mention the fact that you did *try* to bust me out of that cage."  
  
"After this, we're even?" Colleen asked, a grin appearing on her face as she pushed away from the fence and began to follow KC toward the little bridge leading to the other part of China Beach. "No one can know about this." It was more of a request than a statement.  
  
"So, I have to lie for the little Catholic girl?"  
  
"KC..."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. No one needs to know. Yet at least. Oh the favors I'm going to get out of this one."  
  
They continued walking, and finally McMurphy said, "Hey KC?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Never mind," she sighed, the words she wanted to say not feeling quite good enough for the moment. 'You're a better friend than I am, KC', she wanted to say, 'If I had a sister, I'd want her to be you'. They'd established that point already, but in moments like the one she seemed to be stuck in, Colleen McMurphy was eternally greatful to have Karen Charlene Kolowski for a best friend.   
  
The sun began to rise over the lapping water, casting a pinkish orange glow over the medical unit. "So," she sighed, "how's Aunt KC sound to you?"  
  
And she heard was a groan, and responded by shooting KC an unamused look. Eyes meeting, their smiles were followed by laughter, echoing in unison with the waves crashing onto the shore of China Beach. 


End file.
